4 ms·

And why not? The entire political process is kabuki interspersed with conversations with important donors and lobbying groups that actually establish policy.

And why not? The entire political process is kabuki interspersed with conversations with important donors and lobbying groups that actually establish policy. Nihilism isn't the answer, but neither is demanding a particular kind of we're-all-professionals kabuki without any real change. Flipping over tables is at least something.

Apocryphon 7y ago
Funnily enough, just a few months before the Anglosphere dove into the current populist wave, people like Charles Stross were talking about a future of beige bureaucratic dictatorships dominated by financialization and security states: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9106983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9106983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5187236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5187236 Not that we haven't departed too far from that future, but now we have the added problem of revived extremist tribalism and chauvinism of every type.
- yourbandsucks 7y ago
  The tribalism is mostly grist for entertainment media, though. NC bathrooms are national news. Who's writing the bills, the budgets and the RFPs? Politics are fairly decoupled from actual policy at this point, the policy is marching ahead with your beige boxes while the politics express a desire to change that but no ability to do so.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  For those unfamiliar with Stross & his site, the site name is not "anti-pope" as in "against the catholic pope". It was a drunken mistake a few decades ago-- the site name was supposed to be "autopope" (specifically autopope.uucp) Otherwise, just like his highly entertaining books, he often offers up incisive commentary on society. Whether or not you always agree with it, it always makes for an interesting read.
krapp 7y ago
>Flipping over tables is at least something. No, it isn't. It literally isn't anything. It wasn't even anything when Jesus did it, because he did it, and then the people he did it to had him nailed to a tree and they kept on doing business.
- yourbandsucks 7y ago
  I take your point but Jesus has to be the worst possible example for your case.
- sbmassey 7y ago
  ... and then a movement was started in his name which resulted in big changes in how society worked, or at least changes in how the leaders had to act in public.
  - krapp 7y ago
    ... and that movement was integrated into the establishment, first through Rome, then European and American imperialism, but the establishment continues to this day to be just as venal and corrupt as ever.
    - sbmassey 7y ago
      The temples no longer contain money changers, however.
jdietrich 7y ago
Unless you're currently resident in DR Congo or North Korea, you have a lot to lose. Rock bottom is far rockier than most people can imagine. Civilization is immensely precious and remarkably fragile.

Apocryphon 7y ago

Funnily enough, just a few months before the Anglosphere dove into the current populist wave, people like Charles Stross were talking about a future of beige bureaucratic dictatorships dominated by financialization and security states: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9106983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9106983 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5187236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5187236 Not that we haven't departed too far from that future, but now we have the added problem of revived extremist tribalism and chauvinism of every type.

yourbandsucks 7y ago
The tribalism is mostly grist for entertainment media, though. NC bathrooms are national news. Who's writing the bills, the budgets and the RFPs? Politics are fairly decoupled from actual policy at this point, the policy is marching ahead with your beige boxes while the politics express a desire to change that but no ability to do so.
ineedasername 7y ago
For those unfamiliar with Stross & his site, the site name is not "anti-pope" as in "against the catholic pope". It was a drunken mistake a few decades ago-- the site name was supposed to be "autopope" (specifically autopope.uucp) Otherwise, just like his highly entertaining books, he often offers up incisive commentary on society. Whether or not you always agree with it, it always makes for an interesting read.

krapp 7y ago

>Flipping over tables is at least something. No, it isn't. It literally isn't anything. It wasn't even anything when Jesus did it, because he did it, and then the people he did it to had him nailed to a tree and they kept on doing business.

yourbandsucks 7y ago
I take your point but Jesus has to be the worst possible example for your case.
sbmassey 7y ago
... and then a movement was started in his name which resulted in big changes in how society worked, or at least changes in how the leaders had to act in public.
- krapp 7y ago
  ... and that movement was integrated into the establishment, first through Rome, then European and American imperialism, but the establishment continues to this day to be just as venal and corrupt as ever.
  - sbmassey 7y ago
    The temples no longer contain money changers, however.

jdietrich 7y ago

Unless you're currently resident in DR Congo or North Korea, you have a lot to lose. Rock bottom is far rockier than most people can imagine. Civilization is immensely precious and remarkably fragile.